CORIANDER. 127 



A. Xantlioides, Wallich, " The Bastard cardamom of Birenah 

 and Siam"* is a native of Tenasserim and Siam. For 

 many years the seeds of this plant have been taken out of 

 their shells previous to exportation and shipped to London, 

 where they are known on the market as " Cardamom 

 seeds," and occasionally Wild or Bastard cardamoms ; 

 they are also very common in the bazaars in India.-|- 

 They also form an important article of commerce in Siam. 

 They somewhat resemble the seeds of Malabar cardamoms 

 in appearance, but differ in odour, which is powerfully 

 camphoraceous. The spines on the pods are larger than 

 on A. Villosum. 

 In the collection of drugs exhibited by the Chinese Imperial 

 Maritime Customs at the Philadelphia Exhibition in 1876, were 

 fruits of the " Bitter-seeded cardamom," catalogued as derived from 

 A. ainarum from Kwangtung Province. The characters expressing 

 the Chinese name of this drug indicate its property of strengthen- 

 ing the stomach ; the strength of which organ is considered by the 

 Celestials as indicative not only of a person's disposition, but of his 

 mental capacity. The market price of the fruit of this species is 

 accordingly high — 20 dollars per pecul at Canton ; the fruit of 

 A. globosum being cjuoted 8 J dollars. 



Much valuable information on rare forms of cardamoms is given 

 in " Hanbury's Science Papers." 



Coriander. 



The product known as Coriander " seeds " consists of the dried 

 ripe fruit of Corianclritm salivimi, Lin., which is the only species of 

 this genus of Umhellifcrcc. J 



It is an annual herb, about two feet in height, with a branching 

 stem. The leaves are bipinnate, the lower ones divided into broad 

 or wedge-shaped, deeply-cut segments, while the upper ones are 

 more finely cut. The umbels have live to eight rays without a 



* Ibid, pp. 417, 418, fig. 67. 



f Modeen Sherifi, Supplement to PharnicopcEia of India, pp. 44, 270. 



Ij: Martin, Flora rusticji, t. 141; Morison, Plantarium Historia, iii, p. 269, 

 Sec. ix., t. 11, f. 1; Bentley and Triraen, Med. Plants, t. 133 ; Sowerbv, Eng. 

 Bot. 67 ; Stevenson and Churchill, Med. Bot., t. 94; Sibthorp, Flor. Gr?ec., 

 t. 283; Baillon, Hist. Plant., vii., figs. 134-8. 



